Appreciate all the great info, that's what I was looking for. I was concerned about the camp closures and wasn't sure if there were some hidden blm ones or something.

I was curious if Toulumne meadows to mammoth lakes trailhead might be doable in 3-4 days. I just got my maps in the mail, gonna study tomorrow. That would leave me with a few days before and after to check out smaller hikes and resupply stations for the JMT.

Looking at the estimated opening dates for campgrounds, they're anticipating pushing the closing dates back to later in Sept and even into Oct in some cases. If that's how it all works out, it helps you a lot.

Can anyone suggest a good site for weather history in the Tuolumne meadows and Donahue pass area? Id like to get a better grasp on what kinds of temps and wind conditions I might encounter.

Looks like Whitewolf and Tuolumne campgrounds are closing on the 25th this year, Yay me! I saw a graph that shows exit quotas for the past few years, this time of year it looks like they are well below numbers, also good. Walk ups should be relatively easy to get! I hope.

With wind, you just have to watch the forecast, but I've been at Red Peak Pass in late Sept and dealt with fighting 80 mph gusts. Leeward sides of anything that wouldn't blow away, even just for a few minutes, was the best thing that happened all day. To this day, I still pack every guyline I can, and a few extras, no matter where I go.

Nowak1981 wrote:Another dumb question, how do you guys handle day hikes in the back country? Your on a multi day trip and get to your site early, and you want to explore a little. Do you keep wearing the pack?

You should always have the ten essentials with you. I use the backpack as a day pack, keeps bears from stealing it too.

Yes, set up camp. Leave it set up. If you don't have anything in your pack that smells, leave it inside the tent. For bears, the smell is the attractant, and the pack is a visual cue. I'm usually pretty confident about thwarting bears, it's people I worry about messing with my gear. But the further out I am, that fear/risk diminishes proportionately with distance. All said and done, when I walk away for any length of time, I minimize what's out and laying around to the point where it's just my tent, cooking kit stuffed into the rocks, bear can tossed off to the side.

With the 10 essentials, a lot of new packs have built-in day packs. They've become almost de rigueur in modern design and expectations. When in place inside the pack, those daypacks serve as more internal storage. If you take advantage of that storage, make it for those essentials whenever possible. Add whatever you need up to above those items, but always be diligent about the routine and planning for contingencies, then basically just grab-n-go. Without that diligent routine, Murphy's Law says that whatever you forget is what you'll end up needing.

Awesome, I was concerned about the bears messing with it. I have an osprey exos 48, it does have a top pack that I can use as a day pack, but it doeasnt haven't a strap like my aether 70 did. i use some 550 cord on an Aquafina bottle to hang around my neck when I'm pumping water. That would work just fine.

Not sure yet, gonna get some tubing from Home Depot to try it out. I have the 5night bearikade on order for the trip and a 12night one just for a test fit, should I decide I want to do the longer trek.. may have to bump back up to the aether 70, but it's like twice the weight

Bite the bullet and bring the Aether 70. You're going to hate having a canister hanging off your pack. Much better to have the extra weight of the bigger pack than the constant hassle of a 9" cylinder hanging outside of a too small one. It's going to be an awkward carry and get snagged up on everything, including you. Center it up vertically inside.

And whatever you do, don't leave either of those Bearikades in a trailhead bear locker, anywhere. Oh, and you originally asked about food storage at trailheads. Use the crappiest shopping bag, garbage bag, or expendable stuff sack you can find. People are usually really good about leaving your food alone, but no sense in tempting them.